Line Restoration
In June 2006, the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament by 114 votes to 1. It will re-open the line as far as Tweedbank, just south of the burgh of Galashiels, and was given the Royal Assent in July 2006.
£115 million has been allocated for the proposed route and services, which will extend an existing Edinburgh suburban service from Newcraighall to Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank.
On 27 March 2007, Transport Minister Nicol Stephen formally initiated preparatory works. Vegetation clearance took place with a view for construction to begin in 2009 with the first trains due to run in 2011.
In August 2008, the timelines were adjusted, with tendering starting in 2009, final tendering starting in 2010, groundwork starting early 2011 and trains running early 2013. In November 2009, it was announced that the reopening would be delayed for a year. Services are expected to start in 2014.
On 3 March 2010, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson turned the first sod, in Galashiels. This and the beginning of ancillary works marked the official start, activated the Waverley Rail Act which allows the scheme to be built and formally triggered a clause within the act that commits the Scottish Government to complete the scheme within five years. Main construction is due to start in 2011.
On 27 March 2010, it was announced that tendering was underway with three bids received in June 2010. The winning bids were to be announced in September 2011. The final cost estimated at £235m to £295m with the start of revenue services now expected in 2014. The tender process was scrapped on 29 September 2011 and the line will now be built by Network Rail.
Network Rail finally began work on the Edinburgh-Tweedbank section on Tuesday 6 November, 2012. The line should reopen to passenger traffic in 2015.
Read more about this topic: Waverley Line
Famous quotes containing the words line and/or restoration:
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The King [Charles II] after the Restoration accused the poet, Edmund Waller, of having made finer verses in praise of Oliver Cromwell than of himself; to which he agreed, saying, that Fiction was the soul of Poetry.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)